Your research question will determine what type of research you conduct. Surveying existing literature will help you get an idea of the knowledge that exists on the topic; this will inform your own research and interpretations it will also help you determine weather you will conduct primary research, secondary research, or a combination.
- primary research - gathering new data that has not been collected before; surveys, interviews, experiments
- secondary research - synthesis and analysis of existing research
Primary research
If you plan to conduct qualitative or quantitative research, or experiments, start on these as soon as you can. Gathering data takes a lot of time. Students often have difficulty securing participants/respondents; this can throw off your entire research schedule. Scientific experiments are also time consuming especially if they require Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. You can find Tulane's IRB website here: http://www2.tulane.edu/asvpr/irb/
Secondary research
Be methodical when beginning your research take an approach that will make your reading and notes meaningful in order to eliminate having to reread and hunt for quotes, data, and citations.
Bullet points in this box were adapted from the AMAZING University of Redding LibGuide
Research Data is often unique and irreplaceable. Typically, it has value extending many years beyond the termination of the project from which it was generated.
Researchers must ensure that all research data, regardless of format, is stored securely and backed up or copied regularly.
Storage and backup arrangements need to cover the life of the research project, and also the statutory minimum period of retention.
In most cases, data will need to be kept for a minimum of 5 years after publication of the research results, so understanding your storage options and documenting your backup regime is an important part of data management planning.
Students may create personal accounts directly with Box with 10GB of storage. Visit https://www.box.com to set up your box account. Please note that the password you set up with Box will not be synced with your Tulane password.
Microsoft’s OneDrive is also available to students as a free cloud storage solution. OneDrive is a part of Microsoft Office365 and provides one terabyte of storage as long as a student is enrolled at Tulane. See our knowledge Base article here: https://tulane.service-now.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=KB0016153 to learn how to access OneDrive
Tulane has options! Please visit the Technology Services website for additional information.
Organization
It is extremely important to develop an intuitive naming convention to keep your files organized. Over the course of your research you will save many types of files and versions of your writing and data. Create a naming convention early on. When deciding on format think about the following:
For example:
09-24-18_PoliceInterview_OfficerJonespt1
09-30-18_PoliceInterview_OfficerWyattpt1
11-01-2018_Incidents2007_RawData
11-02-2018_Incidents2007_Analysis1
Writing is often the most daunting task of the dissertation process. Creating a writing plan and frequent check ins with your faculty advisor can be the key to staying on track. Don't know where to start? Try the following:
